Halo: Imperial Contact
by BattalionTroop
Summary: its been 13 years since the end of the Great War, and just as things seem to be settling out, the USOA (United Species of the Orion Arm) is thrust into a new conflict. One between a tyrannical government, and a certain rebellion that may need a hero or two.
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's Notes: **__This will be my first official story on this site. The other two were just tests to see if I could write and stick to a story. I failed those tests but I will pass this one. On another note, all facts and references in this story will be coming from the main story lines of the respective games/movies with a few tweaks and adjustments here and there. So, without further ado, please enjoy!_

**Timeline**

2525: Human-Covenant War begins with the attack and glassing on parts of Harvest.

2526: Harvest is retaken by Admiral Preston Cole.

2528: Harvest is abandoned after numerous space and ground skirmishes. Harvest is completely glassed.

2530: Battle of Sargasso, Admiral Gregory White revolutionizes space-naval warfare with tactics described as space-guerilla warfare.

2534: Covenant launches a full scale invasion on the UNSC's outer colonies. Outmanned and outgunned, the UNSC loses nearly 100 worlds to Covenant forces or glassing.

2542: Research into Covenant technology has proven successful and shields are developed for UNSC warships.

2552: A Covenant armada, consisting of nearly 800 ships is detected heading towards the UNSC planet Reach. After weeks of fighting, Reach is deemed as "doomed," and all remaining UNSC forces continue to hold off the Covenant onslaught until they are evacuated. A UNSC ship, "The Pillar of Autumn" chases after a Covenant assault carrier as it jumps into uncharted space.

2552: The events of Alpha Halo transpire.

2552: The last remaining prophet, Regret, and a small Covenant fleet jump into the Sol system. The fleet is nearly decimated as the Home fleet engages the Covenant. First Battle of Earth takes place.

2552: The events of Delta Halo transpire. Covenant erupts into civil war.

2553: Human-Covenant War ends (officially)

2554: UEG signs treaty with the Sanghieili to help rebuild all that was lost in the war.

2554: Operation Restart commences as UNSC and Covenant Separatists ships begin the process of terraforming and rebuilding destroyed and glassed planets starting with the outer colonies.

2556: Covenant Loyalists surrendered after the remains of the UNSC Home fleet, and the Covenant Separatists' fleet Abiding Justice, cornered them to the Jiralhanae home-world ( the Kig-Yar had surrendered a few months prior).

2558: After a long and grueling "discussion" with the Jiralhanae war chieftain, Tartarus II, the humans and both Covenant factions formed the USOA (United Species of the Orion Arm)

2559: 5 years after the Great War, the Vigilante advanced sensor array is finished and covers the entire Orion Arm.

2566: The USOA has finally fully recovered to pre-wartime status and then some. Not only has the population recovered, but advances in technology have nearly doubled the power of the entire military ensuring that they will be ready for another encounter with intelligent life.

At least, that is their theory. However, that theory will be put to the ultimate test, as the VIGILANTE array has just detected a strange ship in sector 251. Not only is the ship armed, but it also bears with it a message:

"**This is Supreme Admiral Wulff Yularen. This Galaxy is hereby placed under the control the Galactic Empire. All resistance shall be met with the iron fist of the Emperor. You have been warned."**

Even as the USOA supreme council reviews this message, the entire galaxy will be gearing up for another battle of epic proportions. One could swear that they heard distant bells ringing. However, these bells were not ringing for peace. Oh no, these bells were ringing for a new battle, one that would shake the universe to its very core. For the Empire did not stir a frightened kitten, it aroused a great giant. And that giant was ready for war.

_**So yeah, first chapter of my new story, and as with other stories, read, review, and give me some ideas for my upcoming chapters.**_


	2. Arrival

_**Author's Notes:**__ I do not own Halo or Star Wars. If I did, I wouldn't be writing a fan fiction now would I? I only own my OC's and I do hope you enjoy this chapter._

_Thank you for all of the reviews. For those of you who voiced your various concerns, thank you, but I had already planned to explain that further on in the story. Also, in this story, let's just say that Master Chief and Cortana never landed on Requiem; Halsey is still in the USAO, and the Spartan team that you assist is the ones that did everything on Requiem, somehow. Chief and Cortana are still out there, somewhere…._

_And now on to the story…_

**Chapter 1.**

**(New) New Alexandria, Planet Reach**

**July 27, 2566, 2:00 P.M. **

**5 days after Fist Contact**

**Built **near the grounds of (old) New Alexandria, New Alexandria has taken its place as Reach's capital city. Nearly 65 miles in diameter, and stretching to 2 miles in the sky, this city certainly deserves to be the capital of the second most important human planet. And right in the center of it, lies the 2 mile high USAO HIGHCOM center Gamma-01. Throughout the entire city, and the rest of the galaxy for that matter, the atmosphere was tense; especially in the very top floor of the tower. In it, 13 representatives, 2 from each species, sat and waited for the final member to join them. The representatives consisted of two Unggoy, two Kig-Yar, two Yanme'e, two Sangheili, two Mgalekgolo, two humans and one Jiralhanae. One of the two representatives spoke for the people of their species, the other spoke for their military; the lone Jiralhanae spoke for both the military and the people (you should know why). As time wore on, one could visibly see the Jiralhanae begin to become aggravated. Just before he could lash out due to his impatience however, the final member of the meeting entered. As the president of the USOA calmly walked to his seat at the head of the table, his customary Spartan V guards took posts both behind him, and near the entrance of the room. He was the second human president of the USOA, the others being a Sangheili, and a Mgalekgolo who was much more talkative than his brethren. Just as President Dimitri Santos sat on his chair, the Jiralhanae rep. practically exploded forth from his chair to .

"Human! You had better have a good reason for dragging us all here for this meeting, especially during the Festival of Blood back on my home planet!" Tartarus practically screamed in the president's face.

Dimitri, having grown used to Tartarus II's exceptionally loud outbursts, calmly said in reply," Tartarus, if you would please sit down, then I would gladly answer your question, along with all of the others who have joined us."

As Tartarus grudgingly sat down, Dimitri stated his need for calling the abrupt meeting.

"As you all should know, approximately five days ago, the VIGILANTE array detected a ship in sector 251. Not only was it armed to the teeth, but also bore with it a hostile mess-"

Tartarus once again, stood up and roared," So what! Just send a fleet over to it, blast it to kingdom come and this will all be over!"

This time, before Dimitri could reply to Tartarus, the Sangheili military rep, Saree' Nadam, tired of Tartarus' complaints, said," Tartarus, if you will refuse to shut up now, then I will personally silence you with my sword!"

"Just come and try you split-lipped coward!"

"You want to go you hairy flood-fodder!"

"What did you call me?!"

As the two continued to argue, everyone in the room thought the same exact thing: old habits die hard.

Finally, tired of the argument, Dimitri said," If you two would please stop, then we could discuss the matter that could decide the fate of our galaxy."

As the two representatives sat down, Dimitri continued," Now, as I was saying, a heavily armed ship not only just appeared in sector 251, it came bearing a message. About five minutes after its arrival, more ships appeared, coming in by the dozens."

The human military representative, Marcus Lones, asked a vital question," How many ships arrived, and were they armed as well?"

"If the array's scans were correct, then over 350 ships arrived. Some were smaller and more lightly armed; others however were equally, and in some cases, even more heavily armed than the first ship."

This certainly drew everyone's attention; even Tartarus stopped glaring at Saree' and began thinking thoughtfully on this new development.

The Unggoy civilian representative spoke up this time." Why we no send peace party to talk to these new people? Surely there is nice way to settle this."

"We did," replied Dimitri, and when he did, he sounded a hundred years older.

Those two words spoke a thousand as everyone present tried vainly to process this simple sentence. Finally, Marcus decided to break the silence.

"Do you have any footage of this, audio or visual?"

Dimitri nodded, and he pressed a button on the arm of his chair. A panel opened up in front of him, and he placed a small data crystal in the port. Immediately, a holographic projector turned on in the middle of the table, and a video playback started up…

**USAO Ontaro-class cruiser Algol**

**July 22, 2566**

**Outside** of the cruiser's main bridge, the vast milky-white coloring of slipspace passed by, making light-years pass by in mere minutes. Inside, the crew performed their many tasks given to them as they all anticipated the moment they came out and faced the new arrivals. The Algol, along with the other Ontaro-class cruisers, was assigned to escort the communications ship, Severed Link. While the Link was not equipped to deal with hostile threats, the cruisers were.

Built at the end of the Great War, the Ontaro was made of a combination of Forerunner and USAO technology. Nearly 1600 meters in length, the ship was covered in 2 meters of Duranium battle plate, a combination of Titanium-A Nanocomposite armor, and powerful Forerunner alloys. It was powered by 4 hybrid, fusion-plasma reactors and 2 backup plasma generators. It had 2 standard Macs and 1 heavy Mac all spinally-mounted. 14 particle accelerator cannons; 28 dual heavy 150mm "Hailfire" railguns; 30 laser pulse cannons; 120 Blitzkrieg missile pods with plasma-coated fusion warheads that were twice as powerful as a 21st century MOAB; 50 90mm anti-ship railguns; 80 50mm CIWS; 20 Shiva tactical nukes; 5 Havoc nukes; and a MKII shield generator. It also carried with it 40 Mettalion star fighters, 15 Greatsword bombers, 30 Dragonfly transport ships, 3 battalions of marines, a platoon of ODST's, and an armored column of Grizzly II MBT's and other assorted vehicles(ex. warthogs, ghosts, wraiths, etc…).

Combining all of that in one ship, then having twelve of those ships together certainly made one deadly task force.

Onboard the lead cruiser Algol, Admiral Henry Dawson sat in his command chair as the bridge continued to buzz with activity.

"Hordan, what's the eta until we drop out of slipspace?"

"Thirty minutes until we drop out sir," replied Hordan as he consulted with the various data displays around his station.

"Good. Ally, what's the status of the rest of the task force?"

"Everyone's reporting in fine sir."

"Excellent, I don't want us coming out of slipspace with half of the fleet malfunctioning."

"That would make an excellent first impression, now wouldn't it Admiral?" joked Jason from the helm.

"Ha ha, very funny, Ace, what's the status of the ship?"

Ace, the ship's ninth generation smart AI, dressed as a WWII pilot, replied," All systems are looking fine admiral, although I have detected strange activity originating from the men's restroom on deck 14. Any clue as to why that is?"

Henry sighed," must be private Gint again, dismiss that from your logs."

As Henry and the rest of the bridge crew continued their duties, time slipped by, until 60 seconds was all that separated them from a new, possibly hostile force.

"Ace, turn on the fleet wide com."

"Yes sir," replied Ace as he connected the Admiral to the rest of the fleet.

"Alright, listen up. In one minute, we will come face to face with a new force. Whether they are friendly, or hostile, we will see, but I want everyone on their toes, or talons, and prepared for anything, am I clear?"

A chorus of voices, a medley of several species, cheered in their own ways as the seconds ticked down.

"All hands, prepare to leave slipspace," announced Hordan.

"Five"

"Four"

"Three"

"Two"

Everyone tensed as slipspace started to recede. Anticipation and uneasiness was evident throughout all 13 ships. But also present was the one emotion that prevailed over all:

Hope.

"One!"

As the task force departed from slipspace, and reappeared back in their own dimension, the lives of everyone in this galaxy, and other galaxies in another part of the universe, changed forever.

**Imperial Star Destroyer Iron Dominion**

**In the main bridge**

**Supreme **Admiral Wullf Yularen gazed through the viewport as he awaited the arrival of the rest of the fleet.

"What is the status of the fleet?" he asked a nearby clone.

"Sir, about one-fourth of the fleet has arrived, over 90 ships are ready. The rest will arrive in one hour due to some minor setbacks," replied the clone.

"Alright, as long as they arrive with more supplies, they shall be excused for this mishap."

As the admiral resumed gazing at the endless void of space, he pondered on a thought that had been nagging at him for a while.

'Are there any advanced civilizations in this galaxy? The message we sent was purely protocol after all, what if there is no life here at all? There certainly was none in the other 4 galaxies.'

His contemplating was cut short however as one of the clones suddenly shouted," Admiral! 13 anomalies have been detected about 1,000,000 km away!"

"What!" Yularen quickly shifted his gaze to one of the view screens as 13 portal-like anomalies suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"By the Force," was his only reaction as he continued to look at the swirling white portals. Suddenly, 13 ships drifted out of the portals.

As he, along with the other 90 assembled ships gazed at the newcomers, and the "newcomers" gazed back at them, a certain feeling soon spread throughout both fleets.

It was the feeling of dread. Dread that lives may be lost; dread that things would go very bad very soon. And dread that this new development would lead to something worse.

War.


	3. Negotiations

_**Author's Notes: **__Thank you people for the reviews both good and bad. Now, I understand that some people have been complaining about the UNSC's quick comeback. Let me clarify something; the UNSC is not completely restored yet. Once they found out that it was possible to remove the glass from the planet's surface, they quickly focused their attempts on key planets like Reach. Although it is not completely devoid of glass, Reach has been deemed habitable. Most of the inner planets and outer colonies are still glassed, and as such, are uninhabitable._

_Now that that is over with, please stop sending me PM's about this topic. My inbox is kinda getting cramped at the moment -_-_

_So without further ado, on to the story…_

**Chapter 2.**

**UNSC Space sector 251**

**USAO Ontaro-class Cruiser Algol**

**July 22, 2566**

"**One," **yelled Hordan, as the Algol and the rest of the task force reappeared in their own dimension.

The first thing the crew noticed was the size of the fleet. Next, they noticed the three monstrous ships in the middle of the formation.

Hordan was the first to break the silence.

"Those things have to be about the size of a Covenant Super Carrier," said Hordan, as the final ship of the task force arrived.

"Ace, what's the status of our fleet?"

"Sir, all ships are accounted for and fully operational."

"Okay, is the Severed Link transmitting?"

"According to this message, the ship is transmitting as per orders."

"Good let's see if these "negotiations" work out as planned," said the admiral, as he along with the rest of the ships, prepared themselves for the worst.

**Imperial Star Destroyer Iron Dominion**

**Main Bridge**

"**Admiral**, the ships have stopped nearly 900,000 km away from our position," said one of the various clones on the bridge.

"Put a video feed of the ships on the projector," ordered the admiral, as he walked over to the holoprojector.

What he saw filled him with dread, and wonder. The ships were unlike anything he had ever seen. They were all beautifully crafted, with sweeping curves on its bow and stern. Its sides were bulbous, but not terribly so, as to add more features to its elegance. The only "error" in its design, was the blocky middle section that looked like it had been sandwiched between the ships more elegant sides. That and the plethora of weapons that he saw on the ships. There were multiple turrets and missile launchers placed in layers all over the ships' hulls. There also appeared to be two large muzzles on the bow of the larger ships, and one on the smaller of the ships.

"What information have our sensors gathered from the ships?"

"Just a minute. Alright, the ships are nearly 1600 standard meters in length, have various weapon ports housing missiles and…slug throwers?" the clone, along with the bridge stared dumbfounded at his displays as he continued on," and appear to be running on multiple plasma generators of a sort."

The admiral was surprised," Slug throwers and plasma? They must be more primitive than they look."

"Admiral, we are receiving a transmission from the unknown ship in the middle of the formation," reported another clone.

This came as another surprise for the admiral," We're able to pick up their transmissions?"

"It appears so sir."

"Hmm, put the transmission on."

As the admiral turned back to the holoprojector, he received yet, **another** surprise, as the person staring at him through the projector, was definitely, without a doubt, human. He could also tell, by the look of the person on screen, that he too was surprised; although, he couldn't tell why.

The man on the screen quickly regained his posture," Greetings, I am Captain Tanaka of the United Species of the Orion Arm communications ship Severed Link. To whom am I speaking?"

"This is Admiral Wulff Yularen of the Imperial Navy. If I may ask, what is your business here?"

"Well, approximately 5 days ago, you transmitted a system wide message that was intercepted by our sensor array. I am speaking on the behalf of my superiors as to why you intend on taking this system as your own." Replied the captain.

"My fleet was sent here as an escort for a mining expedition in this territory. You see, this galaxy is rich with resources that are needed for a conflict that is not of your concern. We were to establish a 'beachhead' of sorts to start the operation." The admiral answered with an air of authority.

"Can we not come to a mutual agreement and coexist with one another? Surely there is another solution to this instead of you simply taking this sector, and possibly the galaxy, as your own?" The captain asked.

The admiral seemed to think it over, rolling the idea around in his head.

"I'm sorry, but even if we could come to a separate agreement, my superiors would see you as a threat to our operations in this system. So, I would like to ask you to please surrender your ships to us, then we shall see to it that you and your 'United Species of the Orion Arm' be assimilated to the Galactic Empire."

The captain could feel anger boiling in himself, and his crew, as the admiral carelessly tossed away the matter as if it meant nothing at all.

"Now hold it right there. If you think that you're just going to come on in here, as a complete stranger, and tell us that you're now our leaders just like that, then you've got another thing coming."

The admiral narrowed his eyes," Are you saying, that you are going to openly oppose the Galactic Empire?"

"If you don't leave this galaxy, then yes, we are going to oppose your empire."

"You have no idea about the consequences you will receive should you choose to resist." The admiral said in a dark, forbidding tone.

"We'll take our chances." Said the captain as he terminated the link.

Immediately, the admiral ordered," Send a fleet-wide message, tell all ships to prepare for combat. Adjust our course to run parallel with the enemy's. Make sure all turbolasers are warmed up and prepare our fighter squadrons."

"Sir yes sir."

As the fleet prepared for their first skirmish with the USAO, the ships on the opposite end of the sector prepared for the very same conflict.

**USAO Ontaro-class cruiser**

**Command Bridge**

"**Admiral**, we have just received a message from the Link, all ships are to prepare for combat, negotiations gone awry."

Admiral Dawson merely sighed,' I knew this would happen.'

"Alright have all ships remove safeties from their weapons systems and to spin up their MAC's. Have our Mettalions and Greatswords prepare for combat.'

"Aye sir."

"Hordan, pull up a tactical interface of the battle on the holoscreen."

"Sending the data over now sir."

The admiral walked over to the projector and soon, a tactical map of the sector was on with the screen zoomed in to show their current positions. The display showed his thirteen ships marked as green arrows on one side, and 93 red arrows representing the enemy fleet on the other.

"Ally when is battle group Crusade due to arrive?" Asked the admiral.

"They are due to arrive in about 30 minute's sir."

"At our current speed, how long will it take to reach optimum firing range for our MAC's?"

"About ten minutes sir."

"So we'll just have to hold them off for 30 minutes until backup arrives."

However, the admiral knew that in those thirty minutes, the most intense battle of his life could occur. They had fewer ships, and the enemy fleet had ships that dwarfed his own. But the fate of the galaxy hung in the balance, and he would not fail; and if he did, he would not go down without a fight.

As both fleets scrambled to prepare for the oncoming battle, Admiral Dawson stared out of the main view port in the bridge.

'Alright Admiral Yularen, let's see what you're made of.'

_Read, review, and tell me what you think._


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